Olympus E-P1 vs Sony A55

Its time to look much closer at the Olympus E-P1 and Sony A55, former being a Entry-Level Mirrorless while the other is a Entry-Level DSLR by competitors Olympus and Sony. There is a sizable difference between the image resolutions of the E-P1 (12MP) and A55 (16MP) and the E-P1 (Four Thirds) and A55 (APS-C) possess totally different sensor dimensions.

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The E-P1 was unveiled 13 months earlier than the A55 making the cameras a generation apart from each other. Each of the cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-P1 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Sony A55 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before diving through a complete comparison, below is a quick introduction of how the E-P1 scores vs the A55 in terms of portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Here is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus PEN E-P1 & Sony SLT-A55. The full galleries are available at Olympus E-P1 Gallery & Sony A55 Gallery.

For anyone who is intending to carry your camera, you'll need to factor in its weight and proportions. The Olympus E-P1 enjoys outer measurements of 121mm x 70mm x 36mm (4.8" x 2.8" x 1.4") accompanied by a weight of 355 grams (0.78 lbs) while the Sony A55 has measurements of 124mm x 92mm x 85mm (4.9" x 3.6" x 3.3") along with a weight of 500 grams (1.10 lbs).

Contrast the Olympus E-P1 and Sony A55 in our brand new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Always remember, the weight of an ILC will vary depending on the lens you use during that time. Following is the front view measurement comparison of the E-P1 versus the A55.

Factoring in size and weight, the portability score of the E-P1 and A55 is 86 and 67 respectively.

Oftentimes, its difficult to see the contrast between sensor sizing purely by going over specs. The visual underneath will help offer you a clearer sense of the sensor measurements in the E-P1 and A55.

As you can plainly see, both of these cameras have got different resolutions and different sensor sizing. The E-P1 with its tinier sensor will make shooting bokeh more difficult and the Sony A55 will deliver extra detail having an extra 4 Megapixels. Greater resolution will also make it easier to crop images much more aggressively. The older E-P1 is going to be behind when it comes to sensor innovation.